Christopher skated through the ranks in the organization by the grace of Tony's favoritism, and the crew acknowledges it with resentment. This was one of the main reasons why he had so much friction with Paulie. Paulie had been with the crew for years, and was a good earner, and to see a complete newbie bypass him so quickly because of family ties was infuriating.

Paulie and Chris's relationship with each other deteriorated because of things relating to the business. There's a scene where Chris didn't have enough money to kick up to Paulie when he first starts out and Paulie says "Don't bring our friendship into this".

It's only after Chris is dead that Paulie realizes he threw his friendship with him away for bullshit stuff, like money and pride.